John Bryant (1942-2020)

Some of John Bryant’s achievements

From 1972 until his resignation in 1979 John Bryant was an elected member and eventually became Vice chairman of the RSPCA’s National Council. He served on the following RSPCA committees: Animal Welfare Establishments Committee; Wild Animals Advisory Committee; Education Committee; Unwanted Animals Working Party (Chair).

From 1976 to 1983 he was manager of the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Somerset where he was responsible for the sanctuary’s 36 acres, its seven staff, kennels, cattery, stables and wildlife rescue centre. He was licensed under the Firearms Act to possess and use humane-killers supplied by the RSPCA for emergency euthanasia.

He was Chairman of the Council of Animal Aid from 1984 to 1988.

In 1978 he was elected to the executive committee of the League Against Cruel Sports and served in this voluntary position until 1984 when he joined the staff as Press Officer and Wildlife Research Officer. He also became editor of the League’s quarterly newspaper Wildlife Guardian and, in 1997, was presented with the BBC Wildlife Magazine’s award for ‘Best Campaigning Environmental Newspaper’.

In 1990 during the successful Parliamentary passage of the Badgers Bill 1991, John was appointed as ‘negotiator’ for the Coalition for Badgers which consisted of the RSPCA, Royal Society for Nature, National Federation of Badgers Group and the League Against Cruel Sports.

He also briefed Members of Parliament on the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and produced the original drafts of the Wild Mammals (Protection) Bills of 1992, 1995 and 1996 (the latter became law in April 1996).

During the Parliamentary career of the Wild Mammals (Hunting with Dogs) Bill 1997, presented by Michael Foster MP, he resigned from my position as Chief Officer of the League Against Cruel Sports to become a consultant to the Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals (an affiliation between the RSPCA, International Fund for Animals and League Against Cruel Sports) and acted both as an advisor to Michael Foster and as a member of the legal team on the Bill.

A founder member of Protect Our Wild Animals (POWA) formed in 1998 in order to press the government into fulfilling their pre-election pledge to outlaw the hunting of wild mammals with dogs.

John was elected as RSPCA Trustee in June 2009 and a member of the Wild Animals Strategy Committee.